Social Networking

For all its success in attracting over one billion users, Facebook is surprisingly tone deaf when it comes to meeting their expectations. And this week, public uproar over the social networking giant's policies reached a new apex when it was revealed that Facebook had secretly and without permission altered how the service worked for almost 700,000 members so it could psychologically gauge their reactions to overly positive and negative news....More

Microsoft today delivered a major update to its Facebook Beta for Windows Phone 8 and 8.1, providing a major UI overhaul and some great new features. And if you're using Windows Phone 8.1 already, this version of the app does integrate with the new social media extensibility capabilities in that platform....More

Facebook fans and users know that the social networking giant is busy splitting off its instant messaging solution, Facebook Messenger, from the core Facebook mobile app. With that continuing change in mind, you might be interested in a new update to the Facebook Messenger app for Windows Phone 8.x, which adds a number of new features and some performance improvements....More

A beta version of Twitter for Windows Phone 8.1 leaked this week, providing an answer to some questions I was just going to pose about social networking integration in Windows Phone. With this release, we can see a version of Twitter that works like the Facebook app for Windows Phone 8.1, one that integrates deeply with the system in a now-consistent way. And that's a good thing....More

In a bizarre move, social networking giant Facebook announced Tuesday that it will purchase virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR for $2 billion in cash and stock. According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, virtual reality will succeed mobile computing as the next major era of personal computing....More

Facebook this week released a Facebook Messenger app for Windows Phone 8. A bit belatedly when you consider the versions for Android and iOS arrived about two years ago. But the big question isn't so much the timing. It's, what's the point?...More

Seeking to become the worldwide leader in messaging, Facebook on Wednesday announced that it would purchase cross-platform mobile messaging solution WhatsApp for an incredible $16 billion. And the value of the deal could rise to $19 billion if WhatsApp's employees remain with Facebook for four years....More

A hacker group that calls itself the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) hacked several Microsoft Twitter accounts and its central corporate blog over the weekend, two weeks after it had hacked the firm's Facebook and Twitter accounts for Skype. Microsoft admitted to the hacks and noted that no customer data was compromised....More

An often irreverent look at this week's other news, including some ideas that Stephen Elop has for transforming Microsoft, NVIDIA's Android-shaped knife in the back for Surface, Microsoft's $2 billion Android bonanza, Twitter's successful IPO, Lenovo's PC business continues to rock and roll, the first Windows Phone phablet is ready for preorders, and Google floats a garbage barge....More

Well, it took over a year, but we finally have an official, native Facebook app for Windows 8.1. And it's exactly what you think it is: A version of the Facebook mobile app optimized for the large screens on devices running Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1. Hopefully, a future update will add more Windows integration....More

What I Use

Like many, I was hoping to see a new Lumia flagship before the end of 2014, and while I was pleasantly surprised in some ways by both the Lumia 735 and 830, neither offers the level of performance or best-in-market camera quality I had come to expected from Microsoft/Nokia's high-end devices. So I pulled the trigger on an unlocked Windows Phone flagship that will hopefully take me through at least the first half of this year. Or until Microsoft gets off its low-end fixation and satisfies the needs of its biggest fans....More

It's been a while since the last What I Use, but there haven't been many major changes since late last year: Surface Pro 3 has become my go-to travel companion, I've added a third cellphone line for testing Windows Phone, Android and iPhone side-by-side, and have rotated through some new tablets and other devices. We've also switched from FIOS to Comcast and added to our set-top box collection....More